Early Space Shuttles

Space Exploration By Chris Gardella

Early Space Shuttles

Space Exploration By Chris Gardella

The Columbia

The Columbia, also known as the STS-1 was the first shuttle to orbit Earth in the U.S. It began an April 12th 1981 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. John Young and pilot Bob Crippen were the only two on board. The flight lasted two days. It landed back on Earth on the 14th.

The Challenger

The second shuttle in the U.S, was the Challenger on April 4 1983. on January 28th 1986 the Challenger tried to take orbit again when 73 seconds after takeoff it exploded. All of the passengers died including what would have been the first pedestrian in space.

Apollo 1

Apollo 1 was going to be the first maned crafted to land on the moon. On January 27th 1967 when during launch the command module caught fire and killed the men inside; Lt. Col. Virgil Grissom, Lt. Col. Edward H. White, and Lt. Cdr. Rodger Chafee.

Apollo 11

This wad the shuttle that landed the first people to walk on the Moon. the people were Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong were the first humans to set foot on the Moon, where the famous quote "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". This was a big milestone for space exploration.

The Shuttle Itself

The space Shuttle was the first reusable space vehicle. They could go into space and come back down and land. If it was tuned up and looked at it could go back into space.